Pride & Prejudice: Chapters 51-61
Episode 35
We're finally here! The final section of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Join Professor Pipes as we find out who's prideful, who's prejudiced, and who gets their happily ever after.
Transcript
Introduction:
Hello and welcome to Piper’s Paraphrases! I’m Professor Pipes and this week I am finally finishing up Pride and Prejudice, specifically chapters 51-61, which are also Part 3, chapters 9-19. It’s about time we finished this novel, so let’s jump right on!
Previously:
Previously in Pride and Prejudice, romance edition: Jane liked Bingley and Bingley liked Jane, but they were separated by his conniving sister and concerned best friend. Mr. Darcy liked Lizzy, but she rejected him. Mr. Collins also liked Lizzy, but she rejected him, too, so he married her best friend, Charlotte. Lizzy liked Wickham, but then she found out that he was actually a huge jerk, and even tried to elope with Mr. Darcy’s little sister. Then Lizzy started to like Darcy back, especially after seeing how nice he was to her and her family at his large and fancy estate. Unfortunately, someone else apparently liked Wickham, Lizzy’s little sister Lydia! So the two ran off together, unmarried! Gasp! Fortunately, they were eventually found and Wickham agreed to marry Lydia, for a sizable fee. Typical.
Summary:
When we last left the Bennet family, Lydia had asked to be able to visit her family after her marriage, but Mr. Bennet had put his foot down: Lydia would not be allowed to visit his home EVER! So of course this section begins with her arrival at Longbourn. Thankfully she has learned her lesson about behaving appropriately and has been humbled by the love, care, and money that was put forth to help bring about her wedding and ensure her future happiness. SYKE! She has learned nothing. She is not at all embarrassed by her indiscretions or the hushed up, hurried way in which she had to get married. She admits that she never listened at all to her aunt’s lectures because she was just too in love with the wonderful Wickham! Gross. She also shows off to everyone around her, even telling her eldest sister, Jane, that she can’t take the place next to their mother and has to go lower now, because Lydia is married and she’s not. What a jerk! Luckily, this indiscretion also leads to an important revelation. In flaunting her wedding, Lydia accidentally mentions that Mr. Darcy was there. Mr. Darcy! The guy who hates Wickham more than any other person in the world was present at his wedding! Lizzy is completely shocked and writes to her aunt for an explanation.
Mrs. Gardiner is rather surprised by the letter, assuming that Elizabeth would have known more than she does, but admits that Mr. Darcy was the one who found Lydia and Wickham. Mr. Darcy was the one who paid off Wickham’s gambling debts. Mr. Darcy paid Wickham so he would agree to marry Lydia. He arranged the wedding, Wickham’s upcoming military post, everything! Awww, what a guy! Mrs. Gardiner closes by saying that she really liked Darcy and can’t wait to visit Pemberley again under different circumstances. Wink wink. Elizabeth, though, is not so sure about Darcy’s feelings. She bounces back and forth between thinking he did all this because he loves her and then thinking that he can’t love her and he could never marry her because of her family’s disgrace and the fact that jerk Wickham would be his brother in law! Speaking of jerk Wickham, he interrupts her musings and chats with her about Pemberley and eventually Georgiana and Darcy, where Elizabeth, in her classically witty style, hints that she knows the truth about both Darcy and Wickham. Soon Lydia and Wickham leave town, but Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy come to town. Bingley and Jane hit it off again right away, and Elizabeth is convinced that he is just as much in love as ever before, though Jane is trying not to get her hopes up. But Darcy? He seems cold and distant again and hardly even talks to Lizzy. Dang! I thought they were finally going to get together! Oh well. Soon Mr. Darcy heads to London, leaving Bingley alone, and when he visits, Mrs. Bennet is super sneaky in trying to get him and Jane alone. Eventually, this sneakiness pays off and Bingley proposes to Jane, who joyfully accepts! Perhaps even more joyful is Mrs. Bennet when she hears the news!
Soon the Bennets have an even more important and wealthy visitor. Nope, it’s not the queen, Cooper, though I’m sure that’s how she sees herself! It’s Lady Catherine DeBourgh. After a typically rude greeting, she and Elizabeth go outside to talk about Elizabeth’s engagement to Darcy. What!?? Did I miss something??? Oh wait, no. Lady Catherine has just heard a rumor - which she assumes Lizzy’s family started - that the two of them would soon be engaged. And man is she angry! After all, Darcy is supposed to marry her daughter (who, again, is his cousin! Gross). Elizabeth is completely shocked by these accusations and angered by Lady Catherine’s astonishingly rude and disrespectful behavior as she insults Elizabeth’s family and tries to get her to promise never to become engaged to Darcy, a point which Lizzy pointedly refuses. Lady Catherine leaves in a huff, and makes it known that she sends no compliments to Mrs. Bennet because she deserves none. Well!
As Elizabeth thinks and worries over this encounter and Lady Catherine’s influence over Darcy, Mr. Bennet reveals that he has a letter from the one person in the world over whom the lady has the greatest influence: Mr. Collins. He has written to let them know that he told Lady Catherine about the potential engagement of Lizzy and Darcy. Dang! How does everyone know about this rumor?? Anyways, he wanted to let them know that Lady Catherine was not pleased with this match, so they should probably rethink it. Because, you know, keeping Lady Catherine happy is obviously everyone’s top priority. Mr. Bennet laughs at the ridiculous notion that Darcy could like anyone, let alone Elizabeth, and Lizzy awkwardly is like, “Ummm yeah… Hilarious…” Speak of the devil, Mr. Darcy himself comes to visit Longbourn with Bingley again, and he and Elizabeth end up walking together, giving her a chance to thank him for everything he did for Lydia and her family. But he says he didn’t do it for her family. He did it for her. Awwww!! He basically asks if she still hates him, because he still loves her, and she says she loves him, too! Bam! Engaged! Ummmm… finally! I knew there had to be a happy ending! They both apologize for their past behavior and talk about Jane and Bingley’s own happy ending. Maximum happiness! Darcy also tells her that their engagement is all thanks to Lady Catherine! What??? Apparently, when he heard that Elizabeth hadn’t agreed never to marry Darcy, it gave him hope. Aww, finally all her meddling was actually useful!
Soon Elizabeth tells Jane about her engagement and Jane is shocked, and then excited. That evening, Mr. Darcy officially asks Mr. Bennet for his consent to marry Elizabeth - because that used to be a thing. Elizabeth is then called in to talk to her dad, who is super worried that Elizabeth doesn’t actually love Darcy. Once she has convinced him that she does, he admits that he gave consent already, and she admits that it was Darcy who arranged everything with Wickham and paid off his debts. When Mrs. Bennet hears the good news, she has no qualms and suddenly no longer hates Mr. Darcy. In fact, she loves him!
Soon Lizzy and Jane get married! No, to Darcy and Bingley, not each other! They’re sisters, Cooper! That’s messed up! Anyways, Lady Catherine is super mad but eventually has to deal with it, Miss Bingley is jealous but acts totally fine with it, and Georgiana is totally thrilled. So how is everyone doing at the end of the book? Lydia and Wickham grow less and less fond of each other and are always asking Lizzy for money. Jane and Bingley eventually move out of Netherfield and much closer to Pemberley. Georgiana and Lizzy got along perfectly. And we can assume that Lizzy and Darcy lived happily ever after, just like a good old fashioned fairy tale or a classic telenovela.
Characterization:
Some things never change, and the same is true of some characters. Mrs. Bennet is as obsessed with marrying her daughters off and with money as always. Almost immediately after hearing about Lizzy’s behavior, she states (in a frenzy), “Oh! my sweetest Lizzy! how rich and how great you will be! What pin-money, what jewels, what carriages you will have!” She is not excited for Elizabeth’s happiness, but for her wealth, since those two things are seemingly synonymous for her! From the very start she has defined the bachelors around her by their wealth and status.
Her husband is similarly unchanging. While it had previously seemed that Mr. Bennet had learned to be less facetious and disinterested in his family’s lives after he saw how his indifference led to Lydia’s indiscretion. However, in his final line he’s back to his unserious, joking ways as he says that he likes all his sons in law, but “Wickham, perhaps, is my favourite.”
Speaking of Wickham, he and his wife have not changed either, despite the impropriety of their behavior and their marriage. He is as charming and as insincere as ever, and “Lydia was Lydia still; untamed, unabashed, wild, noisy, and fearless.” She talks down to her sisters and sees nothing wrong in her current or past behavior, even saying she’ll find husbands for her sisters without even a blush as Elizabeth tells her, “I do not particularly like your way of getting husbands.” Me neither.
However, other characters have clearly grown and developed. In fact, this section solidifies the largest character shifts in the novel: those of Darcy and Elizabeth. While Elizabeth’s wit, self-assurance, and frankness never waver, her feelings toward Darcy certainly have. As a result, she has learned to overcome her initial prejudices and, perhaps, to learn that one’s first impressions are not always correct. Though she is sometimes a decent judge of character, such as with the Bingleys, she has learned that she is not always correct and is both regretful and apologetic. Darcy’s shift is even more dramatic. He has gone from a man who insulted a total stranger at a party and then further insulted that woman’s family during a proposal, who was cold, aloof, proud, and distant with everyone around him INTO a courteous host, a kind and generous friend, and a sweet, talkative, and occasionally humorous lover. He is almost unrecognizable from beginning to end, but when you look back over his behavior throughout the novel, you can see him slowly change as he falls for Elizabeth. So maybe Lizzy was right when she said long ago that “people themselves alter so much, that there is something new to be observed in them for ever."
Analysis:
As we close out Pride and Prejudice, I have less to say about both Pride and Prejudice, since our main characters have finally overcome these faults. However, there are still instances of both, particularly within the character of Lady Catherine. She is incredibly proud. So much so that she looks down on Elizabeth’s family, insults them, and treats them rudely. While she has to concede that Elizabeth’s father is technically a gentleman, she also asks, “Who are your uncles and aunts? Do not imagine me ignorant of their condition.” Clearly, she is referring to Mr. Gardiner’s status as a merchant, looking down on his “condition” despite having never met him. This demonstrates her extreme prejudice against those she deems as inferior. And she assumes everyone else will feel the same way as her, since she states that his marrying Elizabeth would “ruin him in the opinion of all his friends, and make him the contempt of the world.” Wow. A little extreme there, don’t you think? Darcy also discusses his own pride in this section, since Mrs. Gardiner reveals that part of the reason Darcy paid off Wickham was because he “He generously imputed the whole to his mistaken pride.” In other words, he felt it was his fault that Lydia was in this situation, since he was too proud to reveal how Wickham had manipulated his family. But of course, we know that’s not the only reason why he did it, but we’ll come back to that.
Next up, let’s discuss Class. The largest battle in this section is between Lady Catherine DeBourgh and Elizabeth. In other words, between riches and richness of character. It is made abundantly clear that class (as in status) and class (as in behavior) are two very different things. Lady Catherine faults and looks down on Elizabeth because of her family connections and in doing so is wildly unkind, inappropriate, rude, and pompous. She states that Darcy’s marrying Elizabeth would “disgrace him in the eyes of everybody?” and that Elizabeth’s presence at Pemberley would “pollute” it. As always, she is obsessed with status, and basically tells Elizabeth that she should stay in her place. She also accuses Elizabeth of being selfish, while she herself is trying to steal Darcy away for her own daughter. She even says to Elizabeth, “Obstinate, headstrong girl! I am ashamed of you!” In saying this, she is, ironically, being at least just as obstinate and headstrong! Meanwhile, Elizabeth, while firm, remains rather courteous, especially considering the abuse she is receiving. So while Lady Catherine may be high class, Elizabeth is classy.
This story is a classic romance, so let’s talk Love and Courtship. We of course see the culmination of Jane and Bingley’s love story as they reestablish their feelings, continue to fall in love, get engaged, and then get married. We also see the much less happy relationship of Lydia and Wickham. Despite all Lydia’s boasting, their relationship is clearly not great. In fact, as time passes, Wickham’s affection for Lydia “soon sunk into indifference; hers lasted a little longer.” This relationship is somewhat reminiscent of the Bennets. After all, Mr. Bennet makes it clear that he is not entirely happy in his relationship when he warns Lizzy, “My child, let me not have the grief of seeing you unable to respect your partner in life.” Clearly he doesn’t want his daughter to make the same mistakes he did. Which brings us to our final couple, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, whose relationship is different from all the others. While Jane and Bingley seemed to fall for each other quickly, Elizabeth states that her feelings had “been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began.” Another significant difference is the fact that Darcy’s and Lizzy’s love changed them and made them better people. Lizzy overcame her preconceptions and became more understanding and forgiving. Darcy, meanwhile, became kinder, more generous, and more humble. In other words, love allowed the pair to overcome their pride and prejudice.
Food for Thought:
Before we finish the novel completely, I’d like to leave you with some food for thought. Think about these questions as you reflect on the book as a whole.
First, how have communication and miscommunication played an important role throughout the novel? What might Jane Austen be suggesting?
Second, Pride and Prejudice has been told and retold over the years in various forms, including lots of modernized adaptations. What about this story makes it so adaptable and relatable?
Third, now that the story is complete, in what ways have the characters gone against or upheld their gender norms? In other words, in what ways have the satirical cliches been proven true or false?
Fourth, What are your thoughts on the ending of this novel? Does it fit with Austen’s satirical take on gender, class, and love? Why or why not?
Finally, the original title for this story was “First Impressions,” but it was changed to Pride and Prejudice. Which title do you think better suits this novel and why?
Now go forth, read a bunch, and be good, non-prideful, non-prejudiced people, or you may just miss out on the love of your life.
